Simple Spinach Tarts!

For Thanksgiving, I was slated to make the appetizers for dinner. I fell in love with this simple recipe for Spinach Tarts. I have never worked with Pillsbury Dough before but it turned out very easy! I'm sure anything cooked with this dough is not good for you but for Thanksgiving all the health concerns go out the window.

The square(ish) of crescent dough pressed into the muffin tin. I'm sure you can guess which ones my husband did and which ones I did...

After you pop open the can of Pillsbury crescent rolls, you carefully mend two triangles of dough into one rectangle of dough. After pressing the dotted crease together, I found it helpful to actually press down on the crease to help it stick together. Then we cut each of the four rectangles into six square(ish) pieces and then put them into the muffin tin. 

Quick cook of the mushrooms

I was a little worried about them rising but they didn't. I'm not sure what is in this delicious dough but it seems to be very easy to work with. We set the muffin tin to the side and cooked the filling of mushroom and spinach with cream cheese. 

Really quick cook of spinach

Added the whole (!) block of cream cheese AND a quarter cup of parmesan cheese

I have also never cooked with cream cheese (beyond the mashed potatoes). It was not very appetizing to see the cheese melt into the pan filled with delicious spinach and mushrooms.

I used the two spoon method in order to stuff all the tarts

Right out of the oven! 

hmmm...yummy

Tips:

1. Chop up all the veggies into small pieces. As you can see, I did not do this and as a result some tarts got a big piece of mushroom and others got none
2. If you're not into cream cheese (we weren't), feel free to add your favorite tomato sauce instead! We made a second batch that was only mushrooms and spinach (finely chopped) and either a spicy tomato sauce or just parmesan cheese. They were a hit! Way more popular than the cream cheese version
3. You could also add herbs to the dough! Add dried rosemary or thyme to the dough to make it more flavorful and rustic! This is a simple recipe that can only be added to!
4. I followed the recipe from Eclecticrecipes.com to a tee and was still a little short on the filling. I would suggest making a little more. And if you have spare, it's delicious!

Mushroom and Spinach Tartlets (from EclecticRecipes.com)

INGREDIENTS:

1 can (8 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated crescent dinner rolls
1 teapsoon olive oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
4 cups chopped fresh spinach
1 (8oz) block cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Heat oven to 350°. Roll out crescent roll dough and press together the diagonal seems. Cut dough into 32 equal squares. Place small dough squares into a mini-muffin pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

Drizzle a pre-heated skillet with olive oil. Add chopped spinach, mushrooms and garlic. Saute until mushrooms are tender and spinach has wilted. Remove from heat and add cream cheese, Parmesan and basil. Mix well.

Add 1 heaping teaspoon of filling to each crescent roll dough square. Bake at 350° for 15 - 20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Tip: For even more flavor, add 1 tablespoon freshly chopped basil and 2 cloves garlic, grated.

Tip: I used a very small muffin tin. Depending on the size of your mini muffin tin, you may choose to cut the dough into 16 instead of 32 squares.

Crockpot Slow Cooker Garlic Mashed Potatoes

As you can tell from my blog, I love to use the crock pot. I registered for this mini crock pot after visiting my friends and they had one for hot dips. But after we did our first party with a hot dip, I started to wonder what I else I could use this crock pot for. Enter mashed potatoes!

From pinterest, I noticed some recipes of crock pot mashed potatoes. I figured it would work in the mini crock as well to make a smaller portion for just me and my husband.

Cut up two medium potatoes and put it in the crock. Add about a quarter cup of chicken stock and couple of pats of butter and a clove of garlic per potato.

  In this pic you can see how tiny my crock pot is.

I was very worried about how little liquid was in the crock but it worked!

After two hours on low, just mash up the potatoes and garlic (or you can remove the garlic if you like). 

I added a small dab of cream cheese and a dollop of light sour cream to the mashed potatoes.

I like my potatoes chunky, so this was perfect for me! If you want a smoother potato, add another half an hour of time. 

Recipe from Budget Savvy Diva (I adapted this to one pound of potatoes): 

• 5 Pounds of Russet Potatoes
• 1 garlic clove minced
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 cup butter, cut into small cubes chunks
• 1 1/4 cup light  sour cream
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup milk, warmed
• 2 ounces of light cream cheese ( really makes a difference)

Grilled Eggplant with Tomato and Feta (the famous over 10,000 repins recipe)

 Another recipe I found over at pinterest.

Grilled Eggplant with Tomato and Feta (the famous over 10,000 repins recipe).

Original Post

 So this pin highly intrigued me. Over 10,000 repins? Really? I guess I'll try it.

 I read through all the Comments/Suggestions/Tips....

• No measurement of olive oil
• Explanation - use your eyes
• Can you use a different cheese?
• The snooty author seems to deem this wrong but those who tried had good results
• Comments on cooking in general, not much on actual recipe

My trial:

• Didn't realize the "large" eggplant at my local Whole Foods would not be large enough
• Three tomatoes yielded too many tomato slices for the amount of eggplant my "large" eggplant produced
• Really really really try to make the slices as even as possible. I am not talented enough to do this.
• I left out my salted eggplant for 15 minutes on one side and another 15 minutes on another side on top of paper towels to capture the "wetness" that would come out of them. This resulted in a really dry eggplant. 
• Even at 400 degrees and more than the instructed 15 minutes, the cheese does not look like the picture. It doesn't melt or crisp up like that. 

This turned out kind of gross. I like eggplant, tomatoes, feta cheese and pesto-ish sauces. But because of the salted removal of water and then the grilling and then the baking, the eggplant came out like bark. It was dry and tasteless. Also, this didn't stick together. Once I got it on a plate, it just fell apart and became a salad. 

I will not be making this again. :( 

If you would like to try this recipe, here's my tips:

• Screw the salting part, just grill them
• Get a big eggplant or at least image how big your tomato is and ensure that the eggplant's width is equal to or greater than the tomato
• If you cannot do this, get a smaller tomato
• Try a cheese that actually melts a bit. It makes more sense to be a binder for the middle layers to be a melty cheese
• Maybe put toothpicks in the middle of the stacks in order to hold them in places vs getting a salad like I did
• I think a chimichurri sauce would be better but I like spicier meals. 

Recipe (source mazamag.com)

4 Servings

1 large eggplant
3 large tomatoes, to match the diameter of the eggplant
0.4 lbs Bulgarian feta, crumbled
1/2 cup fresh basil leaves
juice of half lemon
2 garlic cloves
½ extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper to taste

Cut of the eggplant crosswise into ½” thick rounds. Lightly season them with salt and leave them for 30 minutes on a side to let water to come out of the eggplant.

Once ready drizzle some olive oil on top of each slice and grill them on a lightly oiled grill rack for 2 -3 minutes each side.

Blend the basil leaves with 4 tablespoons olive oil, 2 garlic cloves, lemon juice and 1 teaspoon salt in an immersion blender until smooth.

Cut the tomatoes crosswise to 1/4” thick rounds.

Lightly oil the baking pan. Arrange 4 eggplant rounds side by side. Spread 1/2 tablespoon of the basil-garlic mixture on top of each one, then generously sprinkle feta crumbs. Top each with tomato rings. Add another layer of eggplant, basil spread, feta and tomato rounds and top with the rest of the crumbled feta.

Preheat the oven to 400F.

Drizzle some olive oil on top of each stack and bake for 15 minutes.